Eximius eSports is a North American eSports organization located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the United States of America. It is owned and run by Brad Dick DBA Eximius eSports. Since 1998 Eximius has had many teams come and go through the organization. Eximius is said to be in American eSports History as one of the first primary North American eSports organizations. Below is a in depth History of the Eximius eSports brand.

Phillip you were the building block of this organization. We miss you very much. You will always be in our hearts and will always bee the first sponsor of Eximius eSports. Most importantly, the best friend Mike and I could have had. It was because of you this organization jumped to greatness. We love you my friend and look forward to seeing and playing against you one day once again.

Eximius eSports History is a lengthy one; Eximius eSports started out not as Eximius but as another name, w00t Gaming. w00t Gaming had a tag that looks like this -[w00t]-, most think that the current w00t Gaming is the first and legitimate one; this is not true the current w00t Gaming is a fake gaming organization created after w00t Gaming changed their name to Eximius eSports. Brad Dick the current owner never trademarked the w00t name so he was never able to keep the current organization from using it. w00t Gaming began as a public server team in 1998. They attended LAN's together in Oklahoma City winning quite a few locally. The competition was too easy for them to play at LAN so they decided to join online leagues. w00t Gaming became powerful in a gaming league called, "OGL" or Online Gaming League.

​

In OGL w00t Gaming dominated the advanced ladder play and the invite tournaments. At one time they reached the top of the ladder for twelve straight weeks without a single loss. After w00t Gaming became really good, new members online started coming in. Current owner, Brad Dick became the in game leader and lead recruiter of the team, however he did not own w00t Gaming. Two other gentlemen owned w00t and were not quite involved with the team.

The owners came to Brad and his brother Mike Dick about creating a website for w00t Gaming, at the time Mike was learning web design on a fluent basis. He had been designing sites for past clans in games such as Age of Conquerors.Mike agreed to design the site, and it was nice enough to get many people on the team to invite their friends and the forums blew up with popularity. The owners asked for control of the website, Brad and Mike disagreed that the site would be in control for Mike to change how he pleases because he created it. The owners at the time were already mad at Brad because he was demanding in what he wanted out of w00t Gaming in terms of starters for the team and the direction it was going. The owners eventually had enough and they tried to remove Brad from the clan and promoting his brother Mike Dick.

Brad and Mike collaborated and came to the conclusion that they controlled the server, site, and the members who they all recruited and were close to. The final decision was to remove the members and let Brad and Mike Dick take control of w00t Gaming; and the legacy began there. For one year the two owners tried to create teams to beat w00t Gaming, but never could.

"Yeah I took control of w00t Gaming because my brother Mike Dick and I was doing all the work."

​-Brad Dick (Owner of Eximius eSports)

"Brad and Mike were the reason w00t became so popular we wanted them to be the leaders. "

The members of w00t Gaming were tired of the easy competition they had been playing and the civil war that had underwent against the previous two owners. Under Brad and Mike's leadership w00t Gaming was grabbing the best players that came in and out of their server. Brad always thought the best way to recruit a player was to play against them. He used that to his full potential in the server every day. Brad finally met a kid who was the first Hall of Famer today in Eximius eSports, Kyle "mousetrap" Mathison. Mathison was known at that time as KmKz and was the leading fraggers in the server. Brad asked Kyle to join the team and move on to a much tougher competitive level, "CAL" or Cyberathlete League. CAL had just opened up and only had a few seasons under its belt. Brad learned quickly how to make the team relevant and known.​

Immediately w00t Gaming promoted themselves in the forums of CAL as the OGL champions, many players mocked and laughed the team because OGL had been a 2nd rate league. The season began and w00t Gaming thrived going 6-0 and finally losing finishing the season at 7-1 going into the playoffs. Falling short in the playoffs w00t Gaming was moved up to the next division the next year. This was another year where w00t Gaming thrived going 12-4 w00t Gaming moved up to another division, CAL-P. This division was just shy of becoming a invite team. ​​

​In CAL-P w00t Gaming did not do quite as good as they should. They began to see the toughest teams and players in North America for the first time that you saw in the Championship Gaming Series. Brad known as "I3lackJaguar" stepped away a bit from becoming the in game leader and strategy caller and decided to focus on the management of w00t Gaming. When this happened changes started happening within the team; new small sponsors were coming in, but the production of the team was not up to par. The team did not do very well and ended up dying moving w00t Gaming back to the beginning division in 2003-2004.​

​New owner of w00t Gaming Brad "I3lackJaguar" Dick decided to revamp the lineup with new players that he had recruited. Some of them still very good and active today, a few of them played on a team called, "Skull Gaming" when Counter-Strike Source was created. Brad returned to playing again in CAL-Open division and promoted the new team, this time around everyone took them seriously. The team went 7-1 through CAL-Open season and went very deep into the playoffs finishing 4th in the league out of about 300 teams in 2005. There was only one problem with the direction that w00t was headed, it was Counter-Strike Source.​

"There were not many teams in CAL or OGL that could beat us, that was a really fun time; miss those days sometimes as a player in w00t Gaming."​ - Kyle "mouse KmKz" Mathison, (Eximius eSports HOF)

The w00t Clan entered a new chapter in Counter-Strike in 2004-2005 when VALVe released a brand new version of Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike Source. Source was on a new engine and was a game that took more hardware power. Some of the older players like Brad Dick did not have the computer power to run Counter-Strike Source and did not have a desire to switch. Upon telling this to the starters for the regular Counter-Strike team, they all told Brad that they were going to play next season in CAL-Open for Counter-Strike Source. With that being said, Brad had to recruit a new team again, and had to prepare his team for Counter-Strike Source.

Players like Kyle “mousetrap” Mathison joined the Counter-Strike Source team but occasionally played on the regular team as well. The switchover for the players was a fast and easy one, they immediately became one of the top teams in CAL-Open finishing the season 7-1 and moving on to the playoffs going very deep finishing 4th place in season number one. With the top finishing, the w00t Gaming CS:S team was awarded a move up to CAL-Main, one step away from being in the professional division. While the success was happening with the Source team, Brad was struggling with the transition from regular Counter-Strike to the new game, Counter-Strike Source.

Brad realized he was not quite as good as he was in the regular game. His new team that he recruited for Counter-Strike was also not doing very well in the regular Counter-Strike division, they were in the Intermediate division and had a record of 8-4, the lowest record that w00t Gaming had ever had and managed to not even make the playoffs. Brad realized at this point his professional days playing were over; he took a step back and began to oversee the management of the w00t Gaming Counter-Strike Source team for the upcoming CAL-Main season. At the time there was an emerging organization called, “Skull Gaming.” Skull had financial backing which w00t Gaming did not have. 3 out of the 5 starting players jumped ship and were recruited to this team playing in the professional division. Skull Gaming became successful and ended up winning the professional season. ​​

With w00t Gaming players moving to Skull Gaming, Brad had to recruit new players to play in CAL-Main division, which was next step below the professional division. However, the players that Brad recruited were not as good as the ones he had previously recruited in the past. Some of the players were not as dedicated as others as well, the passion was no longer there and w00t Gaming was becoming a dying product. The season in CAL-Main was a 9-5 season, missing the playoffs and had a risk of being dropped to a lower division. The only thing keeping w00t Gaming in the CAL-Main division was the returning players were still active on the roster. Once again, w00t Gaming squeaked by with a technicality.

"I honestly thought that w00t Gaming AKA Eximius eSports was going to close shop after this season and just go back to being a pub team, who would have thought we would jump into the higher ranks after CPL."

After an unsuccessful CAL-Main season many of the starting players left the roster, but the original w00t players who started with Brad Dick in the public servers did not; by doing this it allowed them to keep their spot. Brad recruited one more time for CAL-Main to try and make things successful for w00t Gaming, however it also failed. The team finished 5-9 and did not make the playoffs in season number three. After the season, a huge tournament called, “CPL” or Cyberathlete Professional League, created a tournament in Dallas, Texas for 250,000 prize pot. Brad wanted to have w00t Gaming go compete for that prize pot, but he knew he did not have the players to go and do very well. ​

In spring of 2005, Brad started going out and looking for sponsors for the first time for w00t Gaming. He managed to snag some local sponsors such as Best Buy and a few computer stores. But, the one that stood out the most was a close personal friend of Brad’s named, Phillip Wickett. Phillip came to Brad and asked if he could sponsor w00t Gaming’s hotel stay while they were down there. Brad agreed and put Phillip on the website as an official sponsor. Now w00t Gaming had some backing and an incentive for players to play for w00t Gaming. Brad started talking to some of the best fraggers in the past three seasons about playing for w00t Gaming at the CPL. ​

The guys were really cool, It was extremely funny when Lloyd Shaffer made fun of Brad Dick's hat and brought his own country hat.Wish we still had that picture they took together at a restaurant called Fudruckers.​-Mike "Pure_LucK" Dick

Brad started talking to some of the best fraggers in the past three seasons about playing for w00t Gaming at the CPL. He managed to get a core of three players from various teams that were extremely remarkable. ​Lloyd “Shaffer” ShafferBen “flodog” TaylorChris “deppy” DepaulAJ “heretic” HoglumTaylor “Mac” Mac

Deppy and Heretic

Mac and Flodog

With players like these individuals you could form a good team around them, Brad took a step back and did not play professionally ever again, and he was completely on the management and sponsoring side now. Brad organized a boot camp for the players to play and practice in Oklahoma City, OK to get ready for the CPL. Chris Deppy, was a player who just was accused and banned of cheating by the CAL League. However, the players and Brad knew that Chris was not a cheater and throughout his professional gaming career he has proven time and time again that he never did cheat. The team began to click immediately and started to get some charisma within the team. Lloyd Shaffer created a term during practice to get into the opposing teams head. The chant was heard throughout the venue and everyone knew it was w00t Gaming when it was said. The term that was created by Lloyd was, “got eem!.” ​

After the practice boot camp was concluded the team drove down to Dallas, TX and was ready to compete and begin practicing against other teams within the venue. When the tournament began, w00t Gaming faced up against a team called, S1mulation One. The new team for w00t Gaming was so loud and obnoxious and all having great skill that they defeated S1mulation 16-4.

The leading fragger was Lloyd Shaffer with 27 frags. The second match the team faced off against another opponent who was not up to par against w00t Gaming, the team advanced to the quarterfinal round to face off against a team who was well known, Devastation Gaming.

The team had a great strategy going into the match, but lost 16-12. In the consolation rounds, w00t gaming advanced and they squared up against a well-known team named, Check Six. They knew they had to get in the heads of Check-Six and manager Brad Dick tried his best to stay in the opposing teams head with chants, and calling out the opposing players on poor performances. The team, fell short losing in overtime ending the CPL reign for w00t Gaming. The team at CPL finished 12th out of 64 teams just shy of winning a piece of the prize pot. Shortly after the CPL, a team tried to acquire w00t Gaming completely, called "Team USA." Today they are known as eMg or "Emazing Gaming." They wanted to use Brad Dick as a consultant only. Brad decided after some questionable things offered and said, he would go seperate ways with the organization. Brad made calls to various sponsors, and he decided he would create his own organization and call it "Eximius eSports." Eximius was born out of w00t Gaming, with new sponsors, new teams, and a new drive.... the future was bright.

"Out of all the teams I have come under Eximius eSports, the very first group for w00t Gaming I am still the closest with. We all just clicked really well. I talk to most of these guys on a regular basis. Had so much fun with them."

- Owner Brad Dick of Eximius eSports.

CHAPTER 5Eximius eSports World Series of Video Games (WSVG) 2006Counter-Strike, Quake 4, Day of Defeat

Team Eximius eSports at WSVG, ​Taken by America Online (AOL) on their front page

Eximius eSports arrived at the World Series of Video Games and instead of dressed in w00t Gaming gear; Brad ordered the new staff to dress in suite and tie to show the eSports community that professionalism in eSports is a must. Brad had hired a new Counter-Strike original team consisting of players like Rick “inertia” Bundy and Dustin, “dizzaman” Dilyerd. These players became great players after leaving Eximius eSports but they got their start with Eximius. The newly found organization to get their name out to the eSports community also made flyers with their website, sponsors, and their teams that they currently had to show that they mean business.

Brad not only brought along a Counter-Strike Team, but also a Day of Defeat team that had been ranked number 3, a Quake player ranked number 10 in the world. Eximius eSports made quite a pop at the event, most of the teams under-achieved but the level of professionalism by the staff, players, and organization as a whole caught the eye of AOL or (America Online.) AOL managed to put Eximius eSports on the front page of their website with their hands held up high showing that the future was bright for Eximius eSports. ​Eximius eSports continued to pick up CS:S as a game and took many teams to LAN, one of them was a 4th place victory at the LAXLAN 2010.

Eximius eSports was back at it in Counter-Strike Source finishing 4th at LAXLAN in SOCAL

"Getting our picture on the front page of AOL was really awesome! I am the guy in the tie on the front right, It was the most fun I had in eSports."​- Steven "Skillz" Swiderski (Former Staff Member)

CHAPTER 6Eximius Sports 2007 World Series of Video Games (WSVG)

Team Eximius eSports at WSVG in Dallas Texas

Over 2005-2006 Eximius eSports had earned quite a name for itself not only in Counter-Strike games but also in Call of Duty 2. Eximius eSports recruited one of the top teams in Call of Duty to play for them at during CAL professional division and for the upcoming World Series of Video Games tournament held in Dallas, Texas. The Call of Duty squad was playing in a online qualifier against many of the top USA teams. ​

Winning these two events helped the Call of Duty squad to gain momentum before the tournament began. The tournament started and Eximius eSports was a dominant factor winning their first three matches all the way to the quarterfinal round.

They ended up facing off against their rival Pandemic, but lost in overtime in a heartbreaking loss. The team bounced back defeating teams from Germany, Team Dignitas, and the British team, “4Kings”.The team fought all the way back to the consolation quarterfinals where they squared off with a well-known 20ID team and lost in overtime. 20ID went on to take 2nd in the tournament. Eximius eSports finished in 5th place; just shy of the prize pot.

"I really enjoyed my time with Eximius eSports and I still think back to the fun I had at WSVG. Though I am a lot older now and I do less gaming now I still think it all benefited me to be the person I am today. Eximius brought me into my first role of leadership and I am grateful for that. "​- John "dirty_german" Richmond

​Owner Brad Dick now brought Eximius eSports to new heights; they had acquired new sponsors to get the organization to various LAN events and tournaments. Eximius eSports became quite popular with product reviews; many companies began to value the opinion of Brad Dick and his professional players on their opinion of their products. It was to the point Brad Dick wanted to continue to make Eximius eSports the top organization in North America, but he had to compete with organizations like x3o’s Nick Fitz, Jason Lakes’ Complexity, and Check-Six. All of them were growing to become top organizations.

Left to Right: McCloudy, zero, vu, Styro, zuH5th Place Finish at Summer CPL

Eximius eSports returned to CPL in the winter 2007 with their brand new Counter-Strike Source team. This team promised to be one of the best Source teams Brad had ever had since the w00t team from CPL 2005. This team had leadership and teamwork; they were the example of hard work pays off. They always communicated and were the type of team that was truly an underdog. No one respected them when they started the CAL professional season. Led by their in game leader, Brian “zuH” Smith, the team was on task and ready to compete. The team did so well in the CAL professional season; they played the finals against Devastation on LAN and lost 2 out of 3 matches. It was the highest placing an Eximius eSports or w00t Gaming team had done thus far in a professional league. ​

he tournament started and Eximius made it once again to the quarterfinal round, however this time the team defeated a well-known, Zomblerz +} team. Zomblerz today is one of the best teams in the History of Counter-Strike Source. To beat this great team, Brad knew that he needed to be in the head of some of the players, or attempt to. They made lost the next round to and made it all the way to the consolation semi-finals. There they had to face a team called, “EGE” or Electronic Gaming Evolution. Most know these guys as, Team Dynamic through Counter-Strike Source. Eximius eSports had the team on the run, they managed to win the majority of the rounds, but great players like Dynamic found a way to come back. Eximius eSports was on the last round of and they had a 4 vs. 1 advantage over eGe. The remaining player for eGe was Philippe-Olivier “PEX” Crepin. PEX took down all four of Eximius eSports players to win the game for eGe, it was a devastating loss. The team for Eximius eSports ended up taking 5th. ​

What PEX did to win against the Eximius CS:S squad was unreal. I could not believe it. I taunted him throughout the whole match but he kept his composure. That was one of the biggest blows in Eximius eSports History. I had to go over and shake his hand after the save win that he made. Heartbreaking but that is why you play the game. -

​ Owner of Eximius eSports Brad Dick

Below : eX ! was the tag for Eximius eSports During the Winter CPL - Lineup for Winter CPL 2007 : 5th Place

CHAPTER 8Venturing Into More Games: Left 4 Dead & Team Fortress 2​2008-2009

​Eximius eSports started to begin to venture out into other games, and seeing if it could expand even more. However, this was not financially a good idea becuase the money involved in the selected games was not very good at the time. It is the highest achievement Eximius eSports has to this day, but for the time that Eximius Sports was around in 2008 the economy began to decline slowly. Sponsors stopped giving as much money, but Eximius eSports stayed afloat with the teams and sponsors they had.

Brad made it a priority to continue to thrive in all games not just Counter-Strike Source and Call of Duty. He was destined to make sure that Eximius was a well rounded organization. With the acquisition of the L4D team they ended up winning multiple online tournaments and ended up with a 63-1 record by the time they were done.

The Eximius eSports TF2 team was a dominating force in 2008. The game was really starting to get more popular and ESEA, a newly founded league by Craig Levine the former owner of Team 3D, picked up the game. Eximius eSports beat the majority of the teams and was crowned champion in North America for the CAL professional division.

CHAPTER 9 The Championship Gaming Series

Eximius eSports vs. Compleixty on de_train

The first televised match was shown on DirecTV-exclusive channel, The 101, on July 9, 2007. The Region 1 Grand Finals were held on July 30, 2007 in Los Angeles. The Chicago Chimera defeated the Carolina Core by 22 points to 21, to become the first CGS Regional Champions. In the World Finals in December, the Chimera defeated the Core again to become World Champions and win the $500,000 top prize.

In 2008, the league expanded again; this time to Europe and Latin America. Owner of Eximius eSports Brad Dick had desired to become a GM for a new city that was going to open up in the United States. So he did his best to show the CGS that he was capable of handling and being a showman not only on the TV but off of it. Most of the time Brad Dick was a wrestling coach back in Oklahoma City, all he knew was intensity and charisma. He knew if he could show the executives on stage that he would get a legitimate shot at becoming one of the leagues general managers. ​​

With the expansion of Counter-Strike Source and the eSports industry, so did the demand for something great. There was a brand new league on the rise that brought new heights to the Counter-Strike scene. The league was called the Championship Gaming Series sponsored by DirecTV. The idea of the CGS was to create five teams in various cities below is a brief History of the CGS in 2007 and 2008 taken from www.Wikipedia.com.

The first CGS season consisted of six franchises from six different major cities throughout Region 1 (the U.S. and Canada) plus a total of ten more franchises from the other Global Regions around the world. Each franchise consisted of a total of ten players: five Counter-Strike: Source players, two Dead or Alive 4 players (one male and one female), one FIFA 07 player, and two Project Gotham Racing 3 players. CGS held their first ever draft at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angelas with Vanessa Arteaga being selected as the overall number 1 pick.

Eximius eSports at Season 1 CGS Qualifier to get to the Combine, Eximius eSports did not make it.

Brad asked the team to dress professionally at the event at all times when they were not playing. He felt it would give the team an edge in how they look and how they are serious in their attitude about the CGS. It worked, two players were drafted, and once the team was drafted the team got home and disbanded becuase the two were not going to playing for the Championship Gaming Series and not Eximius eSports.

When returning home, Brad found out that he impressed the executives of the CGS quite bit. He was going to be a general manager eventually, but the league had to expand or a current general manager had to quit. Brad came on as an Assistant General Manager to the Chicago Chimera GM, Brian "DKT" Flander. ​​The team did well throughout the 2nd season of CGS, but did not reclaim their title. After the conclusion of the 2nd season of CGS, Flander came to Brad and said that he was going back to his old job and was going to make me Active General Manager of the Chicago Chimera. However, in November of 2008 the league shut its doors and the TV show was cancelled.

​On November 18, 2008, it was announced on eSports portal Cadred.org that the Championship Gaming Series would be ceasing operations immediately, news that was confirmed only hours later on the Championship Gaming Series' official website. The reasons for the departure of CGS remain unclear, but Hill had left DirecTV after it was purchased by Liberty Media and therefore was no longer in charge of any programming on The 101.

da_bears working in with other players to see his teamwork abilities

Team Eximius eSports at CGS Season 2 Qualifier in Austin, TX

Mr. Dick encouraged the team to show up to CGS sign ups in professional dress

Team Eximius eSports competing at CGS vs. Team EG

da_bears drafted by Chimera at 42:33

"Finding out that the CGS cancelled was like a punch in the face, the moment I found out, I was crushed. I felt like everything I had worked for had just been shattered before me. This was the first moment that I thought about retiring completely." -

After twelve years (1998-2010), of being the owner of Eximius eSports, I regretfully announce that I will be shutting the doors of the organization and I will be retiring from E-Sports managing. It has been a great run for the organization and me. I have had hundreds of people come through Eximius eSports and have met many people. I have had the privilege and opportunity to attend countless LAN Tournaments and dozens of appearances for E-Sports. The people that I have met have made a big impact in my life; life is all about relationships and I feel that I have established many. To all of those who I have met, it was an honor to have met you.

It is hard to believe that Eximius eSports first started out as a public server clan in 1998. I never would have thought it would grow to what it became. We may not have been the greatest North American organization, but the one thing I always tried to stand for was honesty. My theme has always been, “Never offer something that you do not already have.” Most of you know that money does not grow on trees, nor did it in Eximius eSports. We never had the $100,000 a year contracts with DeLL or Creative, we had smaller ones with multiple companies who stood by us through thick and thin for over ten years. To those companies I say thank you for your trust in me and the organization.

I have always tried to set a good example for my players in Eximius eSports and the average gamer. I always tried to talk, act, and dress as if they were coming to a business for an interview. I believe I was not only making them feel confident in the organization, but I was trying to prepare some of these younger people for life. If I helped just one person in the way I conducted myself, well then I succeeded. Some of my greatest joys in my twelve years was getting the chance to see young players move into the E-Sports spotlight as one of the greats. Not many people can say they have watched a new generation of gamers move through the industry. It makes me smile to say that I was one of the few, but makes me even happier to know that there are still people like Jason Lake, Alex Conroy, Craig Levine and Scott Smith are still here for you. I appreciate all of you and what you have done for eSports.

Eximius eSports History is a lengthy one; Eximius eSports started out not as Eximius but as another name, w00t Gaming. Eximius eSports competed at the highest levels of North American eSports. And became one of the founding organizations in North America.... READ MORE